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Purchase Tax Causes Dividend Cut
Page 48
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'THE Government's failure to remove
purchase tax from goods-vehicle chassis is blamed by Sir John E. Thornycroft, governing director and chairman of John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., for the reduced distribution to shareholders.
He says in his annual statement, issued on Tuesday, that trading conditions in both home and export markets have been extremely difficult. Transport Equipment (Thornycroft), Ltd., and Thornycroft (Australia) Pty., Ltd., incurred losses during the year, but the Singapore branch made an increased profit. John I. Thomycroft Subsidiaries in Brazil and Argentine passed no worthwhile orders to the United Kingdom. Brazil made a marginal profit and the Argentine interests incurred a small loss.
Sir John says that with the approach of the next General Election and Socialist threats to renationalize road haulage and restrict C-licensees, there has been a transfer of vehicle business to mass n14 producers. During the past year the trend has been accentuated.
Thornycroft's turnover for the year was about Ilm. lower. To retain essential labour some orders were being taken with little or no profit.
" The long-term outlook for exports of the lighter type of commercial vehicle in a number of markets cannot," Sir John believes, "be very good, owing to the national policies of local manufacture behind tariffs, quotas or prohibitions of import, and it will be, long term, the medium and heavy specialist vehicles which will obtain for the United Kingdom the vital foreign currency to pay for our imports. . . It will be a national disaster if the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not remove purchase tax before it is too late."
It is expected that the Mighty Antar C.8 model with Rolls-Royce engine, now undergoing development trials by the Army, will be approved for production next year. New types of dump truck are also being developed.